


Reach Out, I'll Be There

by Athetos



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Car Accidents, F/F, Guardian Angel AU, Past Catra/Adora, adora is a reckless fool, someone give glimmer a raise
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-18
Updated: 2020-05-18
Packaged: 2021-03-03 01:06:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,011
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24256345
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Athetos/pseuds/Athetos
Summary: Adora has always been accident-prone, but despite throwing herself into dangerous situations repeatedly,  every time she comes out on the other side smiling and unharmed.  She and her friends usually chalk it up to good luck, but it turns out that maybe, just maybe, someone has been looking out for her all this time - and desperately needs a pay raise.  Guardian Angel AU.
Relationships: Adora/Catra (She-Ra), Adora/Glimmer (She-Ra), Perfuma/Scorpia (She-Ra), mentioned mermista/seahawk
Comments: 21
Kudos: 53





	Reach Out, I'll Be There

**Author's Note:**

> Everyone recovering from Season 5? Regardless of the ending, I'll still be here writing glimmer/adora and whatever else I want, because canon can't stop me. And it shouldn't stop you, either!

To say Adora Glenn was accident-prone would be an understatement. The impulsive blonde had been throwing herself headfirst into dangerous situations since she was a toddler. Whether it was due to a lack of self-preservation, bad luck, or just sheer obliviousness, was anybody’s guess. But miraculously, the girl never sustained any serious injuries from her blunders. Whether it was falling from a tree, a near-drowning, or that time when she was five and accidentally poisoned herself by inhaling a jar of multivitamin gummies, she made out with only a slap on the wrist from whatever deity was watching over her. 

Her foster mother used to joke with her, as she would bandage up her scrapes and bruises. “Your guardian angel deserves a raise for all the shit she’s saved you from. You better take them out to dinner one day when all is said and done.”

\---

Adora was late. 

She was supposed to meet her… (friend? Girlfriend? It was complicated, okay!) at noon, and it was currently… fifteen minutes after. And she was only halfway there! Adora didn’t have a car, but considering how horrendous the traffic was right now, she doubted it would have mattered. She pedaled her bicycle as fast as she could, swerving around pedestrians as she rode down the uneven sidewalk. Every bump jarred her, but she couldn’t afford to slow down now; she knew Catra was already disappointed in her.

So maybe Adora wasn’t paying nearly enough attention on the path ahead of her than she should when she came to the intersection. No time to skid to a stop and press the “push to walk” button on the traffic signal. No time to look up and see if the light was green or red. She flew into the middle of the road, and it wasn’t until she heard a bystander scream “look out!” that she glanced in the other direction.

There was a truck headed right towards her, and they didn’t seem to be slowing down. Frantic, Adora pressed backwards on the pedals to break, but it wasn’t enough to stop her forward momentum. She slowed, but continued to screech ahead, right into the path of the vehicle. The driver was looking at what must have been his phone, because he was staring into his lap blankly. Time slowed to a halt, but Adora didn’t feel her life flash before her eyes like in the movies. All she was aware of was every speck of mud splashed on the massive Ford, the glint of the sun on the headlights, and the bugs splattered across the dirty windshield. 

She started to pitch forwards - she had braked too abruptly, and her body was being thrust out of her seat and over the handlebars. She was going to flip into the road and get run over by a driver just as distracted as she was, and she’d have a closed casket funeral where a bunch of people she barely knew would act like they were her best friends, and Catra would come by once a week to lay flowers at her grave, and photographs of the accident would be shown on commercials to promote safe driving, and -

She was yanked backwards by her ponytail, and yelped in surprise and pain. Her body that was being flung forwards reversed direction, and she fell off her bike onto something warm and soft. There was the sickening crunching sound of metal on metal, and she watched in awed silence as the truck sped by, barely missing her feet, and pulverized her bicycle. The driver snapped to attention at the collision, and slammed the brakes, the screech grating on her ears. She felt, rather than heard, the collective gasp of relief from all the present observers.

Shocked but otherwise fine, Adora pushed herself up on her elbows, and turned to look over her shoulder at her makeshift cushion. It was a woman around her age, short, with purple and pink hair and dangling crescent moon earrings. Her outfit matched her hair, and her eyes were a lovely lavender color that despite being impossible, she knew to be natural. But perhaps the most unreal thing about her savior was that she had large, ephemeral wings, pink and transparent, spread out behind her, and a halo suspended over her head. 

“Whoa…” It sounded dumb, but it was the only word Adora’s lips could make at the moment.

She reached out to touch the mysterious person, but she disappeared in a fizzle of lilac sparkles, sputtering out of existence. 

Bystanders helped her fully to her feet, but she found she was no worse for wear. She didn’t have any aches or visible injuries. The driver, fearful and ashamed, apologized to her a dozen times, but Adora could barely hear him, as she was so focused on the stranger who saved her life. She asked everyone present if they had seen a girl pull her out of harm’s way, with colorful hair and magnificent wings, but every one of them shook their heads. No, no one was with her. She fell backwards without any warning. Just luck. 

When Catra picked her up from the scene of the accident, she hugged Adora as tightly as possible, refusing to let the girl go for a good five minutes, before driving her back home. 

“You idiot! Why weren’t you paying attention? There are more important things than showing up to a date on time. Like, you know, _your life_.” 

“I’m sorry, Catra, I just didn’t want to disappoint you, and - “

Catra rested her hand on Adora’s, over the center console. “It’s okay. Relax, Adora. I love you. You know that, right? You have to be more careful. One day, this lucky streak of yours is going to run out.” 

“About that…” Adora shifted in her seat uncomfortably. She knew Catra would think she was crazy, but if she couldn’t talk to Catra about this, who else could she tell? “Someone saved me, actually.” 

“Really?” Catra kept her eyes on the road ahead, even more cautious now than ever, but was clearly intrigued by her friend’s words.

“Yeah. She was… well, I think she was an angel. She had this, really cool, pink hair, and purple robes, and huge wings. You could see through them, but at the same time, I know if I touched one, it would be solid. And she even had a halo. But when I asked the bystanders if they saw anyone, they said they didn’t. It was just me.”

“Hm…” Catra’s fingers tightened around the steering wheel. “Adora, you were really scared, and it was happening so fast… You were probably seeing things. There’s newspaper articles all the time, about crash survivors who were pulled out of the wreckage by angels. It’s common, I think?”

“But it felt so real…” Adora trailed off, refusing to believe that it was just a vision.

“It probably did. And I’m not saying you’re making it up, or that you’re insane. I just think that maybe you weren’t seeing things clearly, is all.”

“Yeah… I guess you’re right, Catra. Thank you... For believing me.”

Catra smiled, throwing her companion a quick glance. “Yeah, yeah. I love you, dork. I’m glad you’re safe.” 

\---

For six months, Adora’s life was refreshingly accident-free. She started working full-time at the gym, which helped to keep her out of trouble. She and Catra gave the whole “dating” thing a whirl, but quickly realized that things just weren’t going to work romantically between them. They remained best friends, and were just as close as before - in fact, things seemed better than ever between the two of them. Even if it didn’t work out, Adora was glad they took the chance to explore their relationship. Adora wasn’t really sure if she was ready for a girlfriend in her life right now, anyways (even though she still found herself staring at every cute girl who walked into the gym). 

Right now, Adora was the last person inside the now-closed building - all her coworkers, including her boss, Huntara, had gone home for the evening. She was staying behind to wipe down all the machines with lysol - even though they had dozens of signs inside the building telling members to clean the equipment after they finished using them, the majority of them didn’t bother. It was, frankly, disgusting. But somebody had to clean up everyone’s sweat. And tears. And sometimes blood.

She whistled tunelessly as she worked, trying to take what little pleasure from the menial task that she could. There was something oddly comforting about repetitive chores, even gross ones. She was almost done, when she looked up and noticed one of the flatscreen TVs hanging from the wall was smudged and dirty. During the day, they usually played the news, or sports, with closed captions for all the members who for whatever reason didn’t bring a music player or phone. 

She had no idea how someone had managed to smear their fingerprints all over the screen that was several feet over her head, but she decided she should probably clean it too while she was at it. She grabbed a ladder from the janitor's closet and dragged it over to the wall, setting it up so she would just be able to reach the screen from the top rung. 

The splintered wood of the ladder groaned beneath her feet as she climbed, which didn’t exactly make her feel safe, but it would only take a moment to wipe down the screen. She had the cleaning solution and wipes held under her arm, and managed to clamber to the top. She sprayed the screen and wiped it down, the ladder shaking precariously from her movements. Finished, she dropped the cleaner and wipes unceremoniously to the floor, and started down the steps, when there was a crack of breaking wood and she felt the ladder give way entirely, her body rushing to meet the hard floor -

But instead of hitting the unforgiving ground, she landed in someone’s arms. Opening her eyes, she found herself being cradled in the arms of the same angel that saved her life months ago. Same gorgeous twinkling hair, same lilac eyes, same iridescent wings and halo. 

“It’s _you_.” 

The woman froze, her eyes widening in disbelief. “You can see me?”

“Of course I can! Why wouldn’t I be able to! Wait, are you an angel?”

“Um…” The woman chewed her lip in thought, an action that Adora found incredibly cute. “This shouldn’t be happening.”

She gently lowered Adora to her feet. The blonde clamped her hands down on her hero’s shoulders, and met her eyes. “Thank you, so much, you have no idea - “

_Poof._

The woman vanished just like before, leaving behind nothing but shimmering pink constellations of sparkles. 

\---

“We have a problem.”

“Might wanna elaborate a bit, Glim.”

Glimmer stood in the middle of the angel lounge, her arms crossed. Sitting on the couches were Bow - her best friend - and Scorpia and Perfuma, two girlfriends who had no idea that there was a time and place for PDA. Right now, Perfuma was sitting in Scorpia’s lap, the taller woman’s arms wrapped around her waist, her hands resting on her stomach. 

“My client can see me.” 

“That’s… not possible.” Bow looked nervous. “Like, that can never happen. It physically can’t.”

“Well, it did, and I have no idea what I’m supposed to do about it.” Glimmer paced back and forth agitatedly.

“This is the cute girl, right?” Perfuma spoke up. “Maybe this isn’t a bad thing! What if she’s into you?”

Before Glimmer could respond, Bow cut in, his voice cracking with urgency. “No, no, no! Human and Angel relationships are strictly forbidden!”

“Wow, way to be a killjoy, Bow.” Scorpia laughed. “C’mon, you have to admit, it’s kind of romantic. Maybe they’re soulmates!”

“She is _not_ my soulmate!” Glimmer stomped her foot. “She’s my client, and that’s all there is to it.”

“Really? Are you sure that’s all there is to it?” Perfuma’s eyes glittered mischievously. “Then why do you spend hours rambling about how smart and pretty and kind she is?”

“I do _not!_ ” Glimmer could feel her face heating up. “I just… think she’s cool, okay? You guys talk about your clients all the time!” 

“Yeah, but we never say anything nice about them.” Scorpia sighed. “Catra isn’t a bad person, but wow, have I seen her get into a lot of scraps over stupid things. You think she could at least try to stay out of trouble. Or at the very least, only get into trouble when I’m actually awake, and not trying to sleep. The girl loves causing problems at four in the morning!”

Perfuma patted her girlfriend’s hands. “Mermista is a pain too. Well, sort of. Most of the trouble she lands herself in is because of her boyfriend, Seahawk… Do you have any idea how many ships that man has burned down? Because it’s a very high number! _Very_ high!”

“My client is fine.” Bow chimed in. “Frosta’s only twelve though, so give her time, I’m sure I’ll have my hands full once she hits puberty.”

“Guys you’re missing the point!” Glimmer shook her head, annoyed. “What am I supposed to do about Adora? Should I tell someone higher up? Like my mom?”

“Absolutely not!” Scorpia and Perfuma said in unison. 

At a nod from her girlfriend, Scorpia continued. “If she finds out, she’d either reassign you, or… well…”

“She’d wipe Adora’s memory, or maybe have to do something worse.” Bow stared at his lap sadly. “As much as I would hate lying to your mom, or the stickiness of this situation, I know Adora means a lot to you, so if you want to keep this a secret, I can do that.” Bow looked up and met Glimmer’s eyes. “But be careful! I don’t want you getting hurt.”

Glimmer’s face softened. “Thank you, Bow. It means a lot. We’ll see how things develop from here, I guess.” 

Perfuma clapped her hands together excitedly. “Oh! Maybe you could get her flowers! Humans love flowers!” 

“I don’t think I’ll… wait.” Glimmer paused, a vision of her client coming to her. “Oh, fuck, I have to go, if this doesn’t kill her, I’ll kill her myself.”

And then she was gone, dissipating in a cloud of sparkles. 

\---

Adora was doing something stupid. Again.

After seeing the angel for a second time, she decided she needed to know more. She didn’t even get her name! How was she supposed to properly thank her if she didn’t know her name? 

Which is why Adora decided to walk directly into traffic on a busy road. 

She didn’t really understand how any of this worked. Maybe her angel wouldn’t rescue her this time. Maybe she was busy, rescuing someone else. Or she was just tired of her antics. Or sleeping. Did angels need to sleep? Did they only rescue people from accidents, and not intentional stupidity?

It didn’t matter. Adora was confident her angel would show up. So she walked into the road, and managed to take three steps before someone barreled into her chest and flung her to the sidewalk, the _thunk_ of her back hitting the pavement drowned out by the honking of a passing car.

“Are you fucking crazy? What’s wrong with you?”

Sure enough, her angel was on top of her, straddling her waist. It should have been an awkward or embarrassing position, but the woman was far too angry with Adora to notice any of the implications. She crossed her arms over her chest, and the frown on her face was utterly adorable despite her anger.

“I’m sorry, I just, I had to see you again! To thank you. And get your name.” Adora blushed. Even if the angel wasn’t aware of their current predicament, Adora definitely was.

The angel looked down, noticing her thighs were on either side of the blonde’s waist, and scrambled to her feet. A blush blossomed across her cheeks and the bridge of her nose, but she still helped Adora up. Adora’s heart was pounding as she held her hand. Her skin was so soft and smooth, unlike her own calloused palms. 

“My name… is Glimmer. And I’m what you would call a guardian angel of sorts. I protect you. Not because I want to, or anything, but because it’s my duty. You’re my assignment, ever since we were kids. So… I’ve grown up with you, even if you couldn’t see me.”

“Glimmer…” The name felt familiar and natural on her lips. “Glimmer.” What a beautiful name. It suited her. “I’m Adora. Well, you already know that, obviously, it’s just, I’m nervous, and - “

Glimmer cut her off with a laugh. It sounded like wind chimes on a summer day. Refreshing and melodic. “You’re really cute, you know that? I just wish you’d stop throwing yourself into traffic.” 

Adora smiled, her own cheeks turning pink. “You think I’m cute?” 

Glimmer smiled. “That’s what you take out of this conversation? Not that you’re a fool for literally trying to get yourself killed to see me, but that I think you’re cute?”

“Hey, I have priorities.” Adora’s face hurt from grinning. “Oh, hey, can anyone else see you? Or is it just me?”

“Just you. But I’m not sure why - no client has ever been able to see their angel before. It’s… peculiar.”

Growing bold, Adora winked at her new companion. “Maybe it’s fate.” 

The angel’s face grew even more red. “Funny you say that...” She looked around her, almost as if she was nervous someone was watching them, then seemed to come to a decision. She reached out and held Adora’s hand with her own, squeezing gently. Adora thought she would implode on the spot.

“We can’t go out to a restaurant or cafe, since nobody else can see me, but… if you want, we could go to your apartment? Maybe get something to eat, and chat?” 

Adora’s heart pounded so hard she was positive her protector could hear it. “I would love to, Glimmer.”

**Author's Note:**

> This started as a oneshot, but I have ideas for a continuation, so hopefully I'll have another chapter up soon(ish). I have a lot of projects going on, what can I say! 
> 
> If you enjoyed, please consider leaving a kudos or comment, as those are my greatest motivators to keep writing! Thank you!


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